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Remarks I made at the United in Love rally at Center Square, Allentown, August 13, 2017:

Centuries ago the ancient prophet Habbakuk said something that any one of us might have said this past week: “How long, O Lord, shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?How long shall I cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise…. the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.The wicked surround the righteous … judgment comes forth perverted.”

Does that describe our situation? Do you hear it? Do you feel it? How long, O Lord?

God’s people have prayed that prayer through the centuries: they prayed it through slavery in Egypt…

They prayed it through ages of corrupt kings and wicked judges

They prayed it through exile in a foreign land…

God’s people prayed it through trial and tribulation, through persecution and distress, through peril, famine and sword.

They prayed: How long O Lord, and God delivered them … and yet … here we are again.

The words of Habakkuk and the prophets, the words of the psalmists and the apostles, all come back to challenge a 21st century empire whose president stirs up the meanest tendencies of the human spirit (How long, O Lord!); a president who seems to take delight stoking the basest of passions in his base (How long, O Lord!); a president whose politics and policies brought a resurgence of racism that raised its vicious head in Charlottesville.

Many of us hoped and prayed that racism was dying on the vine, but others know racism been lurking beneath the surface all these years, lurking beneath the surface all these centuries. (How long, O Lord!)

How long will those who confuse and confound, those who contort and distort the purpose of God be allowed to rule over those who simply want to live in peace and security? (How long, O Lord!)

When I saw what was happening in Charlottesville and I prayed, How long, O Lord, God answered me: “I don’t know. How long, Bob?”

How long, says the Lord, will you ask ME how long… when it is your founding fathers who melded patriarchy with patriotism, when it is your founding fathers who stitched slavery into the fabric of your financial systems, and when it is your own 21st century privileged white complacency that’s enabling the most hateful white supremacy to return today.

And it HAS returned, returned like an infection that the first round of antibiotics didn’t eliminate… and so it has come back even stronger.

How long, says the Lord to me, how long will you and your white colleagues stand by, tsk tsk tsking at the ravages of racism in this country? How long will YOU allow such behavior to go unchecked, unchallenged and unchanged?

So I said, how, Lord?

And then it came to me: 1 Corinthians 13 – one of the best known and best-loved Bible passages, called the love chapter by Christians. It describes the kind of love this “United in Love” rally would be about. Here’s a key passage: “love is patient and kind, it is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude love does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right.”

This isn’t some schmaltzy kumbaya kinda love … because what we are up against is the exact opposite of that love.

Let me run through that love-list again, but this time consider how it applies to Donald Trump. Of course I don’t know the man personally; I know him by his words and actions, and they seem to me to be the opposite of the love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13.

I leave it to you to fill in specific examples. Does this accurately describe the way the President has behaved: he is NOT patient, he is NOT kind, he IS jealous and he IS boastful, he is arrogant and he is rude; he insists on his own way, he is irritable and he is resentful; and he even seems to rejoice at what is wrong.

This is what we are up against, not simply in Donald Trump but also in the white supremacist movement he has empowered. White supremacy is the polar opposite of love and the only way to fight that is if we, all of us: whites and people of color, LGBTQ, cisgender and all, Protestant and Catholic, Muslim and Jew, Buddhist and atheist, if we all unite in love to work for justice.

I’ve recently lost a few friends, but I’m not grieving… not the loss of numbers, anyway. I’m grieving the lost opportunity for dialogue.

I’m not sure who they were, or even how many unfriended me. I don’t keep close track of the ebb and flow of numbers of FB friends. But I do know the last time I checked (a couple of months ago?) it was well above 900. This past Monday afternoon, after reading a post by someone saying “good riddance” to those who unfriended him during the flurry of posts in response to Charlottesville, I decided to check my own numbers. It was 880ish.

Was it something I said?

Certainly not this: thanking Matt Frankenfield of Trifecta for solving my iCloud problems. And not this: kudos to the APD and that cute picture of their K9 partners. And most certainly not this: the Morning Call link I shared about the Laundry Day ministry.

But maybe this: when I questioned the Christian content of the Capitol Hill Bible Study with Cabinet members led by Ralph Dollinger?
Or this: noting that I personally wouldn’t qualify to immigrate to the U.S. under the rules set forth by this administration?
Or this: “Charlottesville: This is racism” – a repost of John Pavlovitz?

Then again, maybe it was what I said about white supremacy and Donald Trump at the Center Square rally on Sunday afternoon in Allentown. Or the fact that my name appeared in the paper as one of the speakers who stood on the monument steps with clergy and laity, black, white and brown, cisgender and LGBTQ, Christians, Muslims, Jews and atheists.

Whatever caused a few dozen people to unfriend me, I’m not grieving the dropping of numbers on my FB page. But I do grieve the lost opportunity to engage in dialogue, even within this limited social media context.

I’m fortunate to have FB friends (some I haven’t met in person) who have very different political and religious perspectives, and who post or pm me with opposing views from time to time. I read what they post and send me. Sometimes I respond, sometimes I just think about it. And I hope they think about what I post and respond to them. Because that’s what dialogue is about. That’s what friendship is about. And that’s the way transformative change happens, to me as well as to others.

Fortunately, my ‘opposing viewpoint’ FB friends are NOT among those who unfriended me. Thank you for staying the course! Fair warning though: I am at an early stage of understanding on many of the issues I am sharing. I am educating myself as I go, and I’ll be sharing more and more as these issues continue to percolate through us all.

BTW – I just checked my FB friends count: two days later, it’s 925. Welcome to new friends I’ve made in the past few days! And perhaps some of those who unfriended me are back. I hope so!

Not exactly at the top of everyone’s newsfeed, I’m sure, but it caught my pastor’s eye (and that of a couple FB friends who forwarded links to me). What an opportunity! Leading a Bible study with the leaders of our nation! Dare I presume to share a few biblical textsthat I suggest Mr. Drollinger include in that bible study? But first:

If you haven’t heard of Ralph Drollinger? He’s a 7’1″ UCLA basketball star, an All-American who was involved in sports ministry through Sports Outreach America, and Athletes in Action. In 1997 he founded Capitol Ministries, a program of evangelism in each of the U.S. capitols, after he graduated from The Master’s Seminary.

If you haven’t heard of The Master’s Seminary? It’s been around for 30 years, but it’s not accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. The ATS, which accredits 270 schools across the country, says the mission of the ATS is “to promote the improvement and enhancement of theological schools to the benefit of communities of faith and the broader public.” (ATS itself is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.) The Master’s Seminary is one of many Bible colleges that do not meet its standards.

So Ralph Drollinger didn’t graduate from an ATS accredited institution and he is not credentialed as a pastor by any denomination. So what? He obviously is a dedicated Christian, and anybody can lead a bible study, right? Of course! But you’d think members of our nation’s Cabinet, this powerful group of people in Washington, would bring the most knowledgeable scholars with PhDs in biblical studies to help them glean insights so they might better understand their biblical calling as Christian leaders in the federal government!

But they didn’t. So I guess it’s up to me. Here am I, rushing in where angels fear to tread. Not a PhD scholar, but what I learned about the bible (and Jesus) in seminary leads me to offer a few suggestions for Mr. Drollinger. Here are a few biblical texts and “launching” questions that I hope would bring new insight to the faithful in his Bible Beltway study.

First, since these Cabinet officials really are just beginning their tenure, I’d suggest they take a close look at the text Jesus used at the start of his messianic tenure. Read Luke 4:16-21. Then ask participants to name the groups Jesus says he will bring good news to. Write on newsprint as they name them: the poor, prisoners, those in need of health care, and the oppressed. Ask what implications this has for their calling as Christians in this administration. If additional references are needed to facilitate conversation, read and discuss Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 22:15-16, and of course, Matthew 25:31-45.

Second, the news article stated that Mr. Drollinger began his bible study with the Sermon on the Mount; I’d suggest that he now distribute a copy of the sermon on the plain (Luke 6:20-25). They’ll immediately see in Luke that Jesus adds four “woes” to the “blesseds.” Ask them to name and list them on newsprint: the blesseds are for the poor, the hungry, those who weep; and the woes are directed to the rich, the full, and ones who are laughing now. Ask your Capitol Hill participants which group they identify with, and why. Give them a few minutes of silence to reflect. Then ask them to identify how each of those groups would be treated in the current administration’s policy agenda. What would Jesus do? Be specific.

Third,since President Trump reportedly receives a copy of Mr. Drollinger’s scripture teaching each week, I’d suggest the Cabinet members should do a special word study. This also has the benefit of teaching bible research skills! First, have them read in unison, out loud, Matthew 23:11-12: “The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Set up several teams (depending on attendance, which may have diminished after the first two lessons). Using biblical concordances, they should look up “exalt” and “humble” and write as many biblical references to these terms as fast as they can. Give extra points for also listing related word forms, like “humility.”

This teaching about humility is self-explanatory, of course, however to drive home the point, when they’ve finished, tell the team bragging about having the most references they don’t win anything! Note this also makes an excellent memory verse for members of the cabinet, not to mention President Trump.

Well, it looks like I’m at my Hebrews 11:32 moment: “What shall I say, time will not allow me to tell” all that I’d like to suggest. I haven’t even mentioned Galatians 3:23-28, that great manifesto of equality! But I stop here because I realize this Galatians passage may be difficult for Mr. Drollinger. The Master’s Seminary has an all-white-male faculty and states its purpose is “equipping men for a lifetime of effective service in the church” (emphasis mine). So Galatians 3:28 might stretch him a bit.

But wait, that’s what’s supposed to happen to those of us in teaching roles! “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15)

May God bless to our understanding these scripture readings, and to God’s name be all praise and glory! Amen.

Wherever we are, whenever we can, we need to take a stand in support civil rights for everyone.

In my testimony at the Allentown City Council meeting on July 19 in support of a ban against conversion therapy, I used an illustration that many found helpful, and I promised to publish it here. Considering President Trump’s tweet last Thursday banning transgender individuals from serving in the military, and the subsequent stance of the Justice Department against LGBTQ civil rights, it is obvious that anti-LGBTQ initiatives are going to continue. Here’s hoping my story helps people see this issue from a new perspective.

“For those of you who are not colonial re-enactors or historians, I need to explain that in colonial times, shoes were made to fit either foot, which is to say, they fit neither foot. There was a single form used to make shoes, called a “last.” It was straight, so you could put either foot into either shoe. Eventually, the shoe would conform to the shape of your foot, or perhaps your foot would conform to the shape of the shoe. And if it hurt it hurt!

“Thank goodness for the invention of the machine lathe in the 1850s when they began to make shoes in left and right styles. And thank goodness for the eventual manufacture of adult sizes from 4-16 and widths from AA to E, resulting in 60-some shoe size combinations that we are free to choose from. We wear whatever size fits us best!

“Council members, perhaps you’ve had the experience, the painful experience, of forcing your foot into a shoe that does not fit properly; imagine how painful it is when someone tries to force you into a way of being that does not fit! Unfortunately there still are people in America who think everyone should fit into one straight shoe.

“I begin with this illustration because I hope it is a memorable image. If I’m known to people in the wider community, it’s probably because I wore this tricorn hat all over Allentown during our city’s 250th anniversary a few years ago. People know me as the pastor who dresses in colonial garb. But few people know that, in addition to being pastor of the Liberty Bell Church, I also have a master’s degree in pastoral counseling.

“For almost a decade, I engaged in a counseling ministry, working with clients from Bethany Counseling Service, the Church Renewal Center at Good Shepherd, as well as with a psychologist in private practice in Bethlehem. So I am well-aware of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association diagnoses and standards of care. And I am well-aware that it is unethical to try to force people to fit into a heteronormative mold. But there are others present who are credentialed in those disciplines who can speak more directly to those standards. I speak as one who now is primarily a pastor.

“I respect my conservative Christian colleagues: we agree on many things, we disagree on others. Certainly each of us is blessed to be Christians in America: each is free to have our own opinions and engage in our own ministry, including counseling people according to our interpretation of the Bible. There is nothing in these this legislation that interferes with clergy or prohibits them from counseling adults according to their interpretations. This legislation only affects licensed professionals, and it only applies to minors. Forcing conversion therapy on a child or a teen is the antithesis of personal freedom, and I would hope my colleagues would never encourage this.

“I personally understand the teachings of the bible very differently from many of my conservative colleagues. I’d be happy to talk about the bible with just about anyone, just about anytime, on these and other issues. Because it’s obvious to me from a Christian pastoral perspective that the only type of conversion Jesus was interested in was related to your soul, not your sexual orientation.

“Council members, legislation has more than one purpose. To be sure, legislation allows for enforcement, but equally important, another purpose of legislation is declarative and educational. To enact this legislation declares the boundary of humane practice and educates people about justice and social norms. As the third largest city in Pennsylvania, Allentown can be a leader in this effort. I urge you to vote in favor of this legislation.”

I had trouble sleeping last night. Below freezing temperatures arrived early, about 10° below average for this time of year. I couldn’t help but think of those who didn’t have a warm place to stay. Unfortunately the city of Allentown’s Warming Station isn’t ready to open, and won’t be ready to open as planned on November 1. Again. Wouldn’t it be great if the Warming Station (WS) were so well-funded, so well-planned, and so well-prepared that it could have opened early in response to this cold snap?

Why isn’t it… …well-funded? Actually, I’d say none of the agencies, organizations or churches that work with those who are homeless and poor has enough money to do what they need to do, much less to take on another project. The Lehigh Conference of Churches’ Board decided they could not manage the WS this year because of a significant funding shortfall. No one else came forward to manage it, probably because they don’t have enough funding for their current needs either. Everybody is scrambling for funding these days. Still they make do as best as they can.

Why isn’t it… …. well-planned? The Conference of Churches’ decision came late in August, so the City had to scramble to find a manager for the WS. Kudos to Mayor Pawlowski who recruited someone with considerable experience and expertise to manage the facility. But between the lengthy contracting process (which necessitates waiting to reveal the new manager’s name) and the inexplicable delay in maintenance and repairs to the WS itself, the current estimate is they’ll open by November 8 – an improvement over the initial projected date of November 14.

However, with the frigid weather upon us, Zion’s Church elders and deacons once again decided to provide a “stopgap” warming station beginning November 1. So now we’re scrambling to find funds to pay for additional staff, at the same time as we’re scrambling for funds to get our breakfast ministry to the homeless up and running. But of course, somehow we also will make do.

Why isn’t it… …. well-prepared? In some significant ways we are better prepared than last year. Some of last year’s problems, like storage for personal belongings at the WS, and plans for sheltering during a snow emergency, have been addressed. Also, this year the Coordinating Committee has an active role in providing support, sharing ideas and wisdom, and pooling resources to strengthen our work with those who are homeless as we enter the warming shelter season.

But everyone on the Committee has added these bi-monthly meetings to their already too-full schedules and have gone “above and beyond the call of duty” as caseworkers, nurses, program administrators, clergy, etc. Somehow it will come together, but Corinne Feldman’s question to the community last winter still hangs in the air: “Who’s responsible?”

Maybe I’m idealistic to believe we shouldn’t have to scramble at so many levels to provide these basic human services to people in need. But then I realize: we have become like those we serve, who also have to scramble every day to survive and make do with so much less than they need.

So we’ll keep scrambling, and we’ll make do. I just hope that is enough in this coming winter season.

As United Church of Christ clergy we applaud the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of marriage equality. The UCC has a long history of social justice advocacy as well as pastoral support for victims of injustice, including those in the LGBT community.

Last year the UCC and its partners filed suitagainst North Carolina’s ban on same-gender marriage as a violation of religious liberty. In October, District Court Judge Max Cogburn agreed, striking down those laws as unconstitutional.

The UCC stance on this and other social justice issues is based on our core values, the first of which is our belief in the “extravagant welcome” of God. Because Jesus himself calls all who are weary and heavy-laden to come to the God of grace and love, we also are called to provide extravagant hospitality. This especially is important to anyone who has been shunned and shamed, made to feel unwelcome and unwanted. So when anyone walks in our door, we proclaim: “whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

Although some cite biblical texts to oppose marriage equality, we think these are taken out of cultural context and misapplied today. We remember in our all-too-recent history biblical texts were used to perpetuate systemic injustice toward women and people of color. While continuing to discern guidance from the Bible, we proclaim: “God is still speaking,” in new ways to address new realities.

Our third core value is our belief that God is changing lives today. The gospels begin with a call to change and they end with the promise of transformation. The apostle Paul calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

We hear testimony of such renewal every day, first from those who changed their minds because their hearts were changed. As more people brave the action of “coming out,” the rest of us realize we have congregants, co-workers, friends, and family members in the LGBT community. It is amazing how opinions can change as a result of personal relationships.

Perhaps more importantly, testimony of transformative change is given by those from the LGBT community who had given up on the Church, but who found stronger faith in Christ when they found a home in an open Christian community.

Of course we acknowledge those among our congregants as well as colleagues who don’t agree with the decision of the Supreme Court nor understand why we, as clergy, so strongly support marriage equality. Indeed, we know some Christians who feel so negatively about this issue that they regard the movement toward marriage equality as a sign of the end times!

Instead, we believe it is a sign of the in-breaking of God’s kingdom among us, that realm of love, justice and peace which Christians pray will come in our Lord’s Prayer.

We reject the judgmental and at times hateful attitudes we have seen exhibited by others in the name of Christ, but we welcome and invite dialogue with those who disagree with us.

This is not the first time people of faith have disagreed on important issues. And this is not the last word on this or any issue the Church is facing. So the UCC also proclaims: never place a period where God has placed a comma!

~ Written by the Rev. Bob Stevens and signed by the Rev. Alan Miller, Conference Minister, Penn Northeast Conference, U.C.C. and 36 other Lehigh Valley UCC clergy:

As a downtown Allentown church, we at Zion’s thought we knew something about ministry to the homeless. But there’s nothing like running an overnight shelter and soup kitchen for a month to teach us a few new lessons.

The Conference of Churches, along with the Allentown Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army, and the Sixth Street Shelter, helps people who live at the edges of our community. Our recent experience with this “stopgap” shelter reveals the importance of their support for the homeless. It also showed what happens when the charitable safety net is withdrawn, even for a short period of time.

One case in point: when the Conference shelter closed, one man who was staying there wandered the streets when he left work that Friday evening. With light rain falling, the temperature in the upper 50s seemed especially cold, so José looked for a warm, dry place. He walked the streets until he passed an empty laundromat. Going inside, he curled up and fell asleep, until awakened by police. They told him only that he couldn’t sleep there and sent him on his way.

He finally wandered into a hospital ER where staff agreed he could sit in the waiting room till morning. It was warm, dry and safe, and he dozed off. When he suddenly awakened, realizing the hour, he hurried to the restaurant where he recently had gotten a job, arriving just in time to be fired for being late.

Progress for the homeless is just that tenuous; their achievements are just that precarious. For him, simply not having a place to sleep was enough to cost him his job.

Homelessness is the lump in our cultural carpet. For years we have been sweeping problems under the rug. We closed state mental institutions, then underfunded or de-funded hospitals, counselors and other service providers that might have given care to more of the mentally ill and addicted.

We over-incarcerate. We promise to rehabilitate. But the penitentiary is just the beginning of the penalty. Those with criminal records are continually penalized when seeking jobs or housing.

Our economic system expands wealth at the top and squeezes those at the bottom. Finding a full-time job often is not enough to liberate people from the ranks of the working poor. When living from paycheck to paycheck, homelessness results from unexpected, sometimes catastrophic bills. (Read this Profile of the Working Poor: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2012.pdf

Rising rental costs and a shortage of affordable housing means even those who find a decent job have difficulty finding a decent place to live.

In our short, stopgap stint helping 64 homeless individuals, we encountered people who struggled with each of those systemic problems; many struggled with multiple systems. And I haven’t even mentioned the way racial issues affect the homeless. Minorities are significantly over-represented. Read more here: Minorities and Homelessness

Homelessness is the lump in our cultural carpet that should remind us we can’t keep sweeping these systemic problems under the rug.

The good news from the gentleman mentioned above is that he found a new job in another restaurant. He wants to work. Although the new job pays 50¢ less per hour than the previous one, he resumed saving toward a security deposit so at last he’ll be off the streets. Let’s hope there isn’t another bump in the road. Or a bigger lump in the carpet.

That’s really the point in this “case in point.” The National Alliance to End Homelessness advocates a “Housing First” approach : provide housing first to create stability so people can address the root causes of their situation.

At Zion’s church the homeless slept just a few feet from where the Liberty Bell once was hidden. Inscribed on that bell is the jubilee text (Leviticus 25) proclaiming economic freedom as well as liberty to those who lived at the edges of the community in ancient Israel.

It is fair and just; it also should be our patriotic duty to provide better care for those who live at the edges in a nation as prosperous as ours.